The Middle Ages

From the Fall of Rome in 476 to the Renaissance, about 1400

Sometimes called the Dark Ages or the Medieval Period, the Middle Ages
refers to the period of almost one thousand years between the fall of Rome
and the Renaissance. The resulting breakdown in law and order and the
inability of Rome to provide protection to the population led to the
development of the feudal system and its castles, which provided some
degree of security and protection.

Note: This timeline presents events in the history of alcohol and drinking during the Middle Ages in chronological order. When events are listed as having occurred within a period of time, such as cir. thirteenth century, they are listed before more specifically dated events, such as thirteenth century, which is listed before the more specific date of 1214.

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With the collapse of the Roman Empire and decline of urban life, religious institutions, particularly monasteries, became the repositories of the brewing and winemaking techniques that had been earlier developed.1 While rustic beers continued to be produced in homes, the art of brewing essentially became the province of monks, who carefully guarded their knowledge.2 Monks brewed virtually all beer of good quality until the twelfth century.3

During the Middle Ages the monasteries maintained viticulture. They had the resources, security, and stability in that often-turbulent time to improve the quality of their vines slowly over time.4 The monks also had the education and time necessary to enhance their viticultural skills.5 Throughout the Middle Ages, the best vineyards were owned and tended by the monasteries, and vinum theologium was considered superior to others.6 In addition to making wine necessary to celebrate the mass, the monasteries also produced large quantities to support the maintenance and expansion of the monastic movement.7

Although most wine was made and consumed locally, some wine trade did continue in spite of the deteriorating roads.8

In the early Middle Ages, mead, rustic beers, and wild fruit wines became increasingly popular, especially among Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Germans, and Scandinavians. However, wines remained the beverage of preference in the Romance countries (what is now Italy, Spain and France).9

Few commoners...in Feudal England ever tasted claret [i.e., red Bordeaux wine]. Their staple was ale, which, to them, was rather food than drink. Men, women, and children had ale for breakfast, with their favorite afternoon meal, and before they went to bed at night.”13 “...a gallon per head per day was the standard ration [of ale].14

“Alcohol consumption in medieval Britain was, by modern standards, very high.”15

Few commoners...in Feudal England ever tasted claret [i.e., red Bordeaux wine]. Their staple was ale, which, to them, was rather food than drink. Men, women, and children had ale for breakfast, with their favorite afternoon meal, and before they went to bed at night.”16 “...a gallon per head per day was the standard ration [of ale].17

“Alcohol consumption in medieval Britain was, by modern standards, very high.”18

Sixth Century A.D.

“In the sixth century, Gregory of Tours observed that wine had replaced ale as the popular drink of the Parisian taverns and he speaks of the repeated drunkenness of the clergy.”19

Cir. 570.

The monk St. Gildas accused British chieftans of going into battle drunk and leading the country to ruin.20

Seventh Century A.D.

Viticulture and winemaking flourished in Uzbekistan up until the seventh century when, with the spread of Islam, production was changed from wines to table grapes and raisins.21

The European “medieval war epoch” began and lasted until the early 1300s, which benefitted viniculture. Commercial vineyards advanced as far north as the Welch border in England and the average harvest in Western Europe occurred about one month earlier than today.22

In England, Theodore, the seventh Archbishop of Canterbury (688-693) decreed that a Christian layman who drank to excess must do a penance of fifteen days.23

625

Islamic Prophet Muhammad directed his followers to abstain from alcohol,25 but promises them that there will be “rivers of wine” awaiting them in the gardens of heaven (Surah 47.15 of the Qur’an).

Cir. 650

In England, Archbishop Theodore wrote that a person is drunk “when his mind is quite changed, his tongue stutters, his eyes are disturbed, he has vertigo in his head with distension of the stomach, followed by pain.”26

Cir. 675

Fortunatus commented on what he considered to be the enormous capacity of Germans to drink.27

Eighth Century A.D.

While hops may have been used in Bavaria as early as around the mid-eighth century, exactly when and where brewing with hops began is unclear.28 However, hopped beer was actually "a new drink altogether, a product of the technique of precise fermentation using only barley, and in which addition of hops ensured an agreeable taste and the possibility of better conservation."29 Old recipes added such ingredients as "poppy seeds, mushrooms, aromatics, honey, sugar, bay leaves, butter and bread crumbs."30

Ninth Century

The monastery of St. Gall built the first significant brewery in Switzerland. Each monk received five quarts of beer daily.31

Cir. 850-1100 A.D.

“Alcohol was central to Viking culture. Their gods drank heavily; their paradise consisted of a battlefield, where dead heroes might fight all day every day for eternity, and a celebration hall, Valhalla, where the deceased repaired each dusk to enjoy a perpetual menu of roast pork and mead served by awesome blonde Valkyries. The Vikings had the same categories of alcoholic drink as the Anglo-Saxons -- mead, ale, wine, and beor. Like the Anglo-Saxons, they venerated mead but drank mostly ale. Modern attempts to reproduce a Viking brew have resulted in a strong (9 percent ABV), dark, and malty beverage, sweet in taste - which would have seemed even sweeter in an age when sugar was rare. In polite Viking society ale was strained before being served - ale strainers have been found amid the grave goods of well-bread ladies, who performed the role of cupbearers in the Viking halls.”32

859

Tenth Century A.D.

“The use of hops did not become widespread until after the ninth century.”34

Cir. 950

The word “beer” disappeared from the English language for about 500 years.35 It has been speculated that this was because beer was an upper-class beverage that was stronger and more expensive than ale.36

Eleventh Century A.D.

“...Simeon Seth, a doctor [was] practicing in Constantinople in the eleventh century AD. He wrote that drinking wine in excess caused inflammation of the liver....”37

Russian priests preached the virtues of drinking in moderation and entire sermons were devoted against drunkenness. However, the idea of abstinence from alcohol was rejected as heretical.38

1066

Twelfth Century

Alewives in England brewed at least two strengths of beer and monks brewed three, with the strength of the beverage indicated by single, double, or triple Xs.40

1102

In England, Anselm decreed that priests should not attend drinking bouts or drink too much.41

1152

“In England, where wine was imported and expensive, and therefore noble, the demand of its gentry sparked a viticultural revolution in the Bordeaux region of France. This had been English soil following the marriage of Henry Plantagenet to Eleanor of Aquatine in 1152.”42

1188

The first national levy on ale in England was imposed to support the Crusades.43

1191

The king granted exclusive rights to Parisians to import wine into the city on the Seine and sell it directly from their boats. Non-Parisians who wanted to bring in wine had to “first associate himself with a Parisian.”44

Cir. Thirteenth Century

Around the thirteenth century, hops (which both flavors and preserves) became a common ingredient in some beers, especially in northern Europe.45 Ale, often a thick and nutritious soupy beverage, soured quickly and was made for local consumption.46

The most important development regarding alcohol throughout the Middle Ages was that of distillation. Considerable disagreement exists concerning who discovered distillation and exactly when the discovery was made. Although some suggest that it was the Chinese who discovered distillation,47 others believe it was the Italians,48 and some name the Greeks,49 most assert that it was the Arabians.50 But if it was indeed the Arabians, was it the physician Rhazer (852-932?)51 or the alchemist Jabir in Hayyan around 800 A.D.?52 Perhaps it was all of the above. "That spirit could be distilled from fermented matter was undoubtedly independently discovered (possibly by accident) in many parts of the world."53 It might be noted that alcohol (al kohl or alkuhl) is Arabic in name.54 However, it was Albertus Magnus (1193-1280) who first clearly described the process which made possible the manufacture of distilled spirits.55

Amaldus of Villanova (d. 1315), a professor of medicine, is credited with coining the term aqua vitae: "We call it [distilled liquor] aqua vitae, and this name is remarkably suitable, since it is really a water of immortality. It prolongs life, clears away ill-humors, revives the heart, and maintains youth."56 These were modest claims compared to those made much later by the fifteenth-century German physician, Hieronymus Brunschwig:

It eases the diseases coming of cold. It comforts the heart. It heals all old and new sores on the bead. It causes a good color in a person. It heals baldness and causes the hair well to grow, and kills lice and fleas. It cures lethargy. Cotton wet in the same time and a little wrung out again and so put in the ears at night going to bed, and a little drunk thereof, is of good against all deafness. It eases the pain in the teeth, and causes sweet breath. It heals the canker in the mouth, in the teeth, in the lips, and in the tongue. It causes the heavy tongue to become light and well- speaking. It heals the short breath. It causes good digestion and appetite for to eat, and takes away all belching. It draws the wind out of the body. It eases the yellow jaundice, the dropsy, the gout, the pain in the breasts when they be swollen, and heals all diseases in the bladder, and breaks the stone. It withdraws venom that has been taken in meat or in drink, when a little treacle is put thereto. It heals all shrunken sinews, and causes them to become soft and right. It heals the fevers tertian and quartan. It heals the bites of a mad dog, and all stinking wounds, when they be washed therewith. It gives also young courage in a person, and causes him to have a good memory. It purifies the five wits of melancholy and of all uncleanness."57

Brandy was first known as aqua vitae. The name brandy was derived from the Dutch brandewijn, meaning burnt (or distilled) wine.58

Distilled spirit was generally flavored with juniper berries. The resulting beverage was known as junever, the Dutch word for "juniper." The French changed the name to genievre, which the English changed to "geneva" and then modified to "gin."59 Russians preferred their grain spirit without the juniper flavor and chose to name it "vodka," or "little water."60 Originally used for medicinal purposes, the use of gin as a social drink did not grow rapidly at first.61

Knowledge of the process of distillation began to spread slowly among monks, physicians and alchemists, who were interested in distilled alcohol as a cure for ailments. At that time it was called aqua vitae, "water of life."62

“The immense demand for ale [in England] was satisfied by many thousands of brewers, or rather brewsters, for the majority of them were female. Brewing was one of the few trades open to medieval women.”63 “Ale was so vital to the very existence of [commoners] that its price and quality were regulated by law” [by King Henry III in 1267].64

“In England, the public places where people could buy alcohol came in three forms: (a) alehouses, (b) taverns, which sold wine as well as ale, and (c) inns which, strictly speaking, were hostels for pilgrims.”65

By the millennium, the most popular form of festivities in England were known as "ales," and both ale and beer were at the top of lists of products to be given to lords for rent. As towns were established in twelfth-century Germany, they were granted the privilege of brewing and selling beer in their immediate localities. A flourishing artisan brewing industry developed in many towns, about which there was strong civic pride.66

Thirteenth Century

In the 1200s, the city of Hamburg developed a flourishing wine trade because its brewers used hops.67

In the mid-1200s, fermenting and drinking hard or fermented cider became more popular in England as new varieties of apples were introduced.68

1214

Philip II Augustus (1180-1223) ordered provinces to submit examples of their wine to Paris for a national exhibition.69

1256

King Louis IX (1226-1270) banned taverns from serving drinks for consumption on the premises to anyone other than travelers.70

1268

A French law of 1268 required that when the king’s wine was for sale at the market, only it ould be sold and criers had to announce its availability morning and evening at the crossroads of Paris.71

Adultering alcoholic beverages was a crime punishable by death in medieval Scotland.72

Fourteenth Century

Beginning in 1315 and continuing until 1898, the world experienced a dramatic climate change known as the Little Ice Age. It was especially severe from about 1560 until 1660. The Little Ice Ages severely impacted all agriculture, including viniculture and wine became scarce.73

The Black Death and subsequent plagues, which followed the beginning of the Little Ice Age, reduced the population by as much as 82% in some villages, some dramatically increased their consumption of alcohol in the belief that this might protect them from the mysterious disease, while others thought that through moderation in all things, including alcohol, they could be saved. It would appear that, on balance, consumption of alcohol was high. For example, in Bavaria, beer consumption was probably about 300 liters per capita a year (compared to 150 liters today) and in Florence wine consumption was about ten barrels per capita a year. Understandably, the consumption of distilled spirits, which was exclusively for medicinal purposes, increased in popularity.74

“There is clear evidence that in Britain of the 1300s, the daily consumption by adult males of one or two gallons of ale per day was not uncommon.”75

As the end of the Middle Ages approached (in the late fourteenth century), the popularity of beer spread to England, France and Scotland.76

The consumption of spirits as a beverage (rather than as a medication) began to occur by the end of the Middle Ages.77

Cir. 1300

In one English village around 1300, an estimated 60% of all families were connected in some way with the brewing or selling of ale.78

1309

London had an estimated one alcohol vendor for every 12 inhabitants.79

1316

Because of a scarcity of wheat in England, a proclamation was issues prohibiting its use in brewing.80

1330

A law was enacted in England that required that wine and beer be sold at a reasonable price. However there was no indication of how to determine what a fair price might be.81

1350

A French law required taverns to sell wine to anyone who requested it.82

1357

Florence prohibited innkeepers from selling wine or other beverages to poor people.83

1366

1381

The increasing price of corn in England led to an increasing price of ale, leading to a concern that the poor would be able to afford the beverage. Therefore, the mayor of London decreed price controls on ale.85

1395

Duke Philip the Bold established rules governing the production of Burgundy wine to improve quality.86 He ordered the destruction of all vineyards planted in Gamay because the “disloyal plant makes a wine in great abundance but horrid in harshness.”87

1396

Winemaking in Bulgaria ended when the Turks imposed Muslim rule between 1396 and 1878.88

8 Wilson, C. Anne. Food and Drink in Britain from the Stone Age to the 19th Century. Chicago: Academy Chicago Pub., 1991, p. 371; Hyams, Edward. Dionysus: A Social History of the Wine Vine. New York: Macmillan, 1965, p. 151.

56 Amaldus de Villanova, The Earliest Printed Book on Wine, Now for the First Time Rendered into English, and with an Historical Essay by H.E. Sigerist, with Facsimile of Original Edition, 1478. New York: Schuman's, 1943, cited by Roueche, Berton. Alcohol in Human Culture. In: Lucia, Salvatore P. (ed.) Alcohol and Civilization. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963. Pp. 167-182. P. 172.